Week12: #4 Austintown Fitch (10-1) vs #5 Akron St.V/St. Mary (7-3)

 
This will be a close game in my book. The Irish didn't look very good against the Tarblooders earlier this year but seemed to improve since that loss.

I will take the Falcons in a close one though
Fitch by 7 over SV-SM
 
Irish have lost to11-0 #1 Cleveland Glenville and 10-1 #1 Akron Archbishop Hoban 28-14. Two common opponents Youngstown Ursuline we’re both won by a TD. They also beat Warren Harding. Austintown Fitch is is very explosive and well respected. However This should be a close game nobody is rolling over anybody!!! This Should be a classic. Keep the Y Town Refs away from this one.
 
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This will be a really tough matchup for Fitch. The run game for the Irish is really good. Falcons need to tackle well and attack the ball. Need turnovers. Offensively, the Falcons need to keep focus and consistency for 4 quarters. I wish I was in town for this one!
 
falcons53 said:
This will be a really tough matchup for Fitch. The run game for the Irish is really good. Falcons need to tackle well and attack the ball. Need turnovers. Offensively, the Falcons need to keep focus and consistency for 4 quarters. I wish I was in town for this one!
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Well, if Fitch needs turnovers, then they've got the right opponent! Lol! The Irish are dramatically improved over last year. And they have dramatically improved as the year has gone on. However, one area of major concern is their tendency to turn the ball over. And it's been a group effort! You can't point at one position group and say that they are the problem. It's been the RB's; it's been the QB's; it's been the receivers. I can't tell what the issue is; whether they are trying to do too much? Anyway, for the Irish to have a chance against a team as good as Fitch, they have to limit their mistakes. And that means not only turnovers, but ill-timed penalties as well. If they can limit these, then they stand a very good chance of beating the Falcons. If not, then Fitch moves on to Hoban!
 
Fitch should win but tough 2nd round game. I didn't even realize St. V was D2 til last week. Barely snuck in there. Dangerous team - would make noise in D3. And very well could pull the upset. Good luck to both.
 
Here is where it gets tough. St V's has similar skill to what we have. They have a good QB, a DI running back, and good receivers. They are going to score if given the opportunity. They will make big plays. We have basically been outscoring our opponents. The once vaunted Falcon defense is gone, which is puzzling because we have a lot of DI talent on that field. We should be able to stop teams, but every team seems to put up between 20 and 35 points. Without Vaughn and Smith playing in the secondary, we are prone to the long ball, and that has been happening. Plus, no body in the secondary outside of those two seem like they can tackle on a regular basis. Pritchard and Evans III are great covermen. We are going to need both of them to get interceptions. They have done it up until now, and I think they will do it again. When we get those picks, we need to turn them into points. The only team we didn't do that against is Massillon, and we know how that turned out. We lose a lot to the interior lines. St. V's is going to be much bigger on the line than us. Our defense is terrible against big fronts. Our linebackers are too small to deal with big, athletic lineman. When we put three men down, we neutralize Dahn and Robinson's ability to raise havoc because they are basically getting double teamed. Fitzgerald does a good job clogging up the middle, but they just stay outside of him. Donnovan-Bell also plays tough, but he gets put into the same position. We are going to need to bring the house and just get a couple of stops, and after we get them we need to score and score often. If we are held under 35 points, we have no chance of winning this game. We need to score at least 42 to win. I think we can do that, but the defense is going to need to pick off St. V's a couple of times. This is going to be tough because this team is probably more talented than us, but we still can beat them. They are not that much better. I can see us winning this game with a score like 42-35 or 49 - 42. I can also see us losing 49 - 28. We need the defense to step up and get physical.
 
STVM is a bit overrated based on comments here. I think Fitch wins. STVM is just 8 days removed from a 41-14 loss to Walsh Jesuit.
 
Lep2002 said:
STVM is a bit overrated based on comments here. I think Fitch wins. STVM is just 8 days removed from a 41-14 loss to Walsh Jesuit.
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That is very true but however football is a game of matchups. Because this same Irish team gave Hoban all they could handle.I think it's gonna be a good game fr
 
MassillonK1D330 said:
That is very true but however football is a game of matchups. Because this same Irish team gave Hoban all they could handle.I think it's gonna be a good game fr
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True, but you know how rivalry games go regarding Hoban and St.VinnySt.Mary. You bring a different level in those games. That being said, you just never know however. We shall see. Hoping it's a great game.
 
clarkgriswold said:
I'd be curious to get the perspective of an Ursuline fan as to their thoughts having seen both teams.
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Not a fan of either, but wasn't St V/ Ursuline kind of close throughout the game? I know Fitch but a 42-7 running clock on Ursuline in the middle of the 3rd quarter. Then Ursuline got pissed off and came back to make a close game out of it. 42-34 final.
 
StarstoShine said:
Irish have lost to11-0 #1 Cleveland Glenville and 10-1 #1 Akron Archbishop Hoban 28-14. Two common opponents Youngstown Ursuline we’re both won by a TD. They also beat Warren Harding. Austintown Fitch is is very explosive and well respected. However This should be a close game nobody is rolling over anybody!!! This Should be a classic. Keep the Y Town Refs away from this one.
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Emphasize keep Y Town refs away. The Ursuline refs were the worst I've seen.
 
clarkgriswold said:
I'd be curious to get the perspective of an Ursuline fan as to their thoughts having seen both teams.
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Turnovers aside, Ursuline struggled (relatively) on offensive more with SVSM than Fitch. We moved the ball well against Fitch, but they made us pay for our mistakes. Fitch is super fast. When they get the ball on defense, they are a huge threat to score with their fast DBs and Linebackers. They just have a ton of fast, talented playmakers on both sides of the ball that make them so dangerous.

On the other hand, I thought SVSM was very tough in between the tackles and their defense hit harder than anyone we have seen in the last few years. If they keep the ball on the ground, they are going to give Fitch some major problems, as they controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball against Ursuline. They totally shut down our rushing attack and held Mr. Lynch to about 60 yards.

I'm picking the home team, but I wouldn't be surprised if SVSM escaped with a win.
 
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